He chuckled. “Son, just you being here was enough for me, but yes, y’all were a huge help this weekend. I can’t thank you enough. Next time I want to spend more time with ya, so no working.”
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“And you bring the boys back with you. I enjoy shooting the shit with them.”
“They love it here.”
Jeff and Josh were both saying goodbye to Grams when they turned to face Gramps.
“Garrett, thank you for everything this weekend,” Jeff said while shaking my grandfather’s hand.
“Thank you. You boys helped out a ton. You’re welcome here anytime.”
Josh followed Jeff’s actions and shook Gramps’s hand and thanked him for the weekend.
“Now y’all be careful driving back, and you boys behave!” Grams called out as we made our way to my truck.
The drive back to Austin was quiet. Both Jeff and Josh passed out before we even hit the end of the driveway. Even though each of us worked out every day, working on the ranch was exhausting and hard work.
I pulled up to Josh’s place and hit him on the leg. “Sleepyhead, you’re home.”
Jerking awake, he rubbed his hands down his face. “Holy shit. I slept the entire drive back?” he asked.
Laughing, I jerked my thumb back to the back seat, where Jeff was still sleeping.
“Both of you did. Looks like y’all need to go to the ranch more often to get into shape.”
He rolled his eyes and opened the truck door. “Thanks for driving, Gunner.”
“Dude, thanks for working your ass off this weekend. It was fun.”
Josh smiled. “It was fun! Talk to ya later.”
He shut the door and then reached for his bag in the back of my truck and jogged into the three-bedroom house he shared with two other guys from the football team.
I put the truck in drive and started for home.
“Can you swing by my mom’s place? I w
ant to check on Ellie,” a sleepy voice said from the back seat.
“You’re up?” I asked as I looked in the rearview mirror at Jeff sitting up, his hands rubbing over his face in an attempt to wake himself up faster.
“Yeah, I have been for the last thirty minutes or so. Just laying back here thinking.”
“About?” I asked as Jeff crawled into the front seat of the truck.
“My mom, Ellie, school, what in the fuck I want to do with my future.”
I knew what he was talking about. I’d pretty much had almost the same thoughts while driving back to Austin.
“Football isn’t in your future after college?” I asked.
“Hell no. It’s fun now, but I don’t see myself doing that for a career. Being at your family’s ranch this past weekend, I really think I want to move out of the city. Maybe I’ll open up my own business or something. Design barns and shit.”
Laughing, I glanced over at him quickly. “Barns, huh?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m worried about my sister.”